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Friday, March 23, 2012

Well folks, as the popularity of our culture/ideals/beliefs spreads – we will start to see more of this time of television. There have been shows about prepping before but not like this. This appears to be about “real” preppers (quotes are intentional), what they are prepping for and then “professional preppers” critique their setup. Why wasn’t I asked to consult on this show? NatGeo… I am waiting! Check out the show’s page HERE at National Geographic’s Site.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS / OPENING THOUGHTS: Ok, first off the show wasn’t bad and held my attention. It featured actually people so the general public can relate. This is opposed to experts (sometimes nutbags) who usually just speak at the camera. Let’s face it – there are very REAL reasons why we should prep and there are some waaaaay out there crazy reasons too. I am not judging you and why you prep BUT, if you are asking main stream America to get with the program then perhaps we should focus on the more mainstream reasons for prepping:

The events referenced in set #1 have happened and will happen again and therefore mainstream America has seen the horrible effects right on the their TV via CNN. List #2 could happen but haven’t happened in our modern history and therefore are out of sight and out of mind. The #3 list are arguably fantasy and although theoretically possible – any prepper running around claiming they are prepping for these scenarios casts a negative shadow on what we are doing.

THEREFORE - Even if you believe in #2 or #3 – please downplay it for the good of prepping so more people will embrace what we are doing. REMEMBER – the more people who are prepared and self-sufficient, the less people we will have to shoot when they come for our preps!

THE REVIEW - The episode I watched last night had a couple from Texas prepping for the reversal of the magnetic poles and basic complete SHTF, a plant enthusiast (to use the term lightly!) in LA prepping for an earthquake and a girl living in some city (I think Texas again) prepping for peak oil. Everyone gets credit for realizing that self-sufficiency is an insurance policy and it is better to be prepped than not.

#1 Texas Couple with Container Fortress. Ok, who can fault these guys for having a container fortress with 50 years of food? Not me! If I had to join a group these guys would be #1 on my list (although I wasn’t a fan of the shit-brown shirts they seem to love but oh well) They also have found other like-minded people, some with a military background, to group together this is usually very difficult to do. This group was my favorite and I thought that they had done a FANTASTIC job prepping. They came across a little nutty because their preps were so in-depth but – if the world goes to shit – they will be sitting pretty. I also like how they were not mall ninjas – everything they had they did themselves. They had skills and were living their daily life as they would during SHTF. How cool was the methane production capacity? Add to it their bug-out plan and they are seriously good-to-go!

#2 Hippy Plant Lover. I am sorry but this guy got on my nerves. Really dude? You are prepping for an earthquake and plant-eating is your focus? Get a box of MREs and avoid having to stop at all to forage for plants and kill squirrels with your damn sling. $20 bucks says he can’t hit the ground with that sling! Then he has barter items in his bag – sir… during the time you are trying to escape from LA after an earthquake is not going to be the time when barter systems are setup. You will be shot and your stuff taken. Period. I think he had the right idea in that he was ready to walk out of LA and having a B.O.B is good – be a little more realistic buddy and ditch the plant gathering while escaping LA. Once out in the wild and IF you find a group to associate with – your skills will be VERY valuable, until then you are a liability.

#3 Peak Oil Gung-Ho Girl. Props to NatGeo for finding a singe female who is prepping. Props to this girl for prepping. But if she was really concerned about peak oil – she should definitely live outside of the city. She said she was a web consultant or something like that – you can do that job anywhere. So her WHOLE plan was to walk (chuckle) out of the city with pink shorts on and a headlamp (chuckle more) in order to get to a prepositioned vehicle that she expects to still be there and not on fire (all out laughter at this point). COME ON! Either have your car at home so you don’t have to walk out of the city during general unrest OR bug-in. She joined the army in the end so she gets love for that. Anyone in the armed forces is good with me. I also didn’t like how NatGeo says “she regularly trains with firearms” when it was clear that she had never fired a shotgun or AR and had limited (if any skills) with a handgun.

There are my thoughts. Great to see prepping mainstream so we’ll take what we can get. Can’t wait to see more episodes!